










mjmi 


ajjp; 


ftasis 




7 

mkmWm 

IMSK 

wSM 

k7^AX:-WjWJ.r • -7 


I 


V; lilft VW* '\j,.Y7 Till*? ’• n.V7 J v4l>'' £ ' ifr> v •'- • ft vViTt W'* ,*, ‘i^vViX 

,r! Jf&m 






INTRODUCTION 


What the Course in Modern Produc¬ 
tion Methods Is, and How to 
Get the Most Out of It 


By 

JOHN CALDER 

Director 


BUSINESS TRAINING CORPORATION 
NEW YORK CITY 





JOHN CALDF.R, M. E. 

Director of the Course in Modern Production Methods 


• « 


©Cl. A 5 5 9 5 25 

JAN 26 1921) 






&2j 

John Calder, M. E. 

John Calder, M. E., Director of the Course in ’ 
Modern Production Methods, is one of the leading 
engineers and industrial managers of the United 
States. 

He was born in Scotland and is an honor gradu¬ 
ate of the Royal Technical College of Glasgow. Be¬ 
fore coming to the United States he had fifteen 
years’ experience in Glasgow as apprentice, foreman, 
inspector, chief draftsman, and assistant manager in 
industrial plants. Among his various activities in this 
country, he has served as general manager of works 
for the Remington Typewriter Company, as general 
manager of works for the Cadillac Motor Car Com¬ 
pany, as general manager of works for the Reming¬ 
ton Arms Company, consulting engineer to the 
French Government in perfecting the organization 
of a large munitions factory in Paris during the 
war, and as vice-president and general manager of 
the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company, which 
supplied airplanes for the U. S. Navy during the 
war. Mr. Calder is now manager of the Employes’ 
Relations Department of Swift & Company, who 
have.about 70,000 people on their payroll. He is a 
member of the Institution of Shipbuilders and En¬ 
gineers of Scotland, the American Society of Me¬ 
chanical Engineers, and the Engineers Club of New 
York. 

The Course in Modern Production Methods, con¬ 
ducted by the Business Training Corporation, has 
been organized and is conducted under the super¬ 
vision of Mr. Calder. 





CONTENTS 


I. The Production Man in the New Era 6 

Just an Average Fellow—Working at What 
You Know—A Man Who Broadened Out— 

The Era of the Production Man—The Mod¬ 
ern Need for Trained Men—Trained Fore¬ 
men and Untrained Workers—Sink-or-Swim 
Training Inadequate—The Kind of Training 
Needed—An Intensive Course in Production 
Methods. 

II. The Course in Modern Production 

Methods. 16 

A Proved System of Training—The Study- 
Unit Plan—Home-Study Plus Conference 
Work—Teamwork—Handling Men—Or¬ 
ganization—Machinery and Materials—Pro¬ 
duction Records—Management—An Author¬ 
itative Course. 

III. Following the Course. 24 

One Unit at a Time—How to Study Each 
Unit—Depend on Your Own Efforts—The 
System of Grading—Ask Questions—Your 
Schedule. 







Course in 

Modern Production Methods 


JOHN CALDER, Director 

With the Assistance and Cooperation of 

FRED. H. COLVIN ARTHUR C. JEWETT 

JOHN A. HARTNEDY J. WILLIAM SCHULZE 

J. H. VAN DEVENTER 


The text of the Course is issued in six study- 

units as follows: 


I. Teamwork 

II. Handling Men 

III. Organization 

IV. Machinery and Materials 

V. Production Records 

VI. Management 


BUSINESS TRAINING CORPORATION 
NEW YORK CITY 





I 


The Production Man 
in the New Era 


Average 

Fellow 


L ET me tell you the story of Jim Jordan. 
It illustrates the point of this chapter, 
and the idea back of it is a basic one in 
the Course in Modern Production Methods. 

In 1917 Jim was assistant foreman in a 
Connecticut machine shop, where he had been 
working several years. He was a 
Just an good average fellow on the job. I 

suppose he was called a capable 
workman—he managed to keep 
abreast of his tasks—but he was really very 
much limited because of his routine attitude 
and lack of interest in his work. 

Then came America’s entrance into the 
Great War. It seemed to challenge Jim. It 
appealed to some instincts that had not been 
observed by his fellows before, and the first 
thing they knew Jim had quit and gone into 
the Army. He served faithfully, went through 
the hard fighting of 1918, and came out of it 
eager to get back to God’s country and with a 
real ambition in life. 


6 




It was a changed Jim who walked down 
the gangplank of the George Washington at 
Hoboken, in the early part of 1919. He had 
known me in Bridgeport, and now came up 
to my office to ask if I couldn’t steer him to 
a job, “a real job where a fellow’ll have a 
chance to be somebody that counts.” It was 
apparent that Jim wanted a white-collar job 
—he wanted to work in an office or store, or, 
most of all, he wanted to go on the road as a 
salesman. Argument only made him more 
determined, so I sent him to a mercantile ac¬ 
quaintance who found a place for Jim. The 
job was a clerkship in the shipping depart¬ 
ment of a wholesale house, and Jim lasted 
about six weeks. I ran across him next in 
Pittsburgh. He had gained his great desire, 
he was traveling salesman for a small hard¬ 
ware factory, but he was not happy. “The 
shipping job was too slow, and too fussy,” he 
said, “checking papers and such like. And 
this job is too fast; I’m on the go all the time, 
but I don’t seem to get anywhere.” 

“Why don’t you get back into the manu¬ 
facturing end, Jim,” I suggested. “You know 
that game, and can get ahead if 
you tackle it in the right spirit. 

Get into the factory of this hard¬ 
ware business; or go back to the 
machine shop—they’ll be tickled to see an old- 
timer back with a record like your’s and a 
new ambition to be somebody.” 

“I don’t know but that you’re giving me the 

7 


Wording at 
What You 
Know 


straight dope this time,” answered Jim in his 
eager way. “To tell the truth, I’ve got a 
hankering for the feel of tools in my hand and 
for seeing things get done.” 

Jim went back. He went back to his old 
job as assistant foreman in the same shop that 
had employed him before the war. But he 
did not stay in that job long. He was rapidly 
advanced from one position to another, until 
at the end of the year he was made assistant 
to the superintendent. 

“What’s the secret of Jim Jordan’s success?” 
I asked the superintendent of that plant re¬ 
cently. 

“It’s Jim himself, mostly,” said the old 
superintendent, chuckling. “He’ll have my 
u/l j°b some day, I reckon. It ain’t 
A Man Who t h a t jj m ’ s an y sma rter with tools 
Broa ene than wag b e f ore . but he’s broad- 

Uut er-minded. He sees that there’s 

more to factory work than just tending his own 
machine. His brain is busy all the time pick¬ 
ing up new facts that will help his work, 
broadening his knowledge of the plant, its 
organization, equipment, methods, and 
policies. He’s a live team-worker now, 
whereas before he was just a sort of lone 
plodder. 

“And then of course, it’s the times we’re liv¬ 
ing in that’s partly responsible,” went on the 
superintendent. “No danger of a live one get¬ 
ting lost in the crowd these days. The de¬ 
mand’s too great. The need for good pro- 


duction men is too all-fired insistent and per¬ 
sistent for anybody who’s got even the mak¬ 
ings in him to be overlooked or passed by. 
Yes sir, this is the day of the production man. 
He’s the king pin in industry, and will be for 
the next ten or twenty years, while the world’s 
trying to make up for what it lost in the war. 

It’s a lucky time in the world’s history for the 
chap that knows the production game.” 

And it isn’t only the superintendent of the 
Connecticut machine shop who gives this judg¬ 
ment. I have heard it from the _ £ , 

lips of hundreds of factory execu- 
tives within the past few months, rrodudion 

This is the era of production. In an 
business, in domestic trade, in foreign trade, 
the cry is “More goods, more goods.” The 
world’s biggest job today is to make goods 
more plentiful. 

The years following the American Civil 
War witnessed a great revival in industry. In 
fact, the foundations of American manufac¬ 
turing as it exists today were largely laid in 
that period of greatly stimulated production. 
The wastage of the World War is far greater 
than that of the Civil War and affects vaster 
areas and more numerous populations. The 
demand for production is proportionately 
greater now than it was in any previous period. 

The decade from 1920 to 1930 will be ten 
years of supremacy for industry, when the 
American factories will stand in the forefront 
of the world’s productive forces, and the men 


9 


who supervise and operate them will be the 
chief forces in the business of the world. 

To the man who is looking for an oppor¬ 
tunity to make good in a real way, I know 


nothing that offers a bigger open- 
at jP^ ern ing or a surer promise of success 
Need for than the production field of 

l rained Men American industry. Of course he 

has to apply himself. It is not merely men 
that are needed, but trained men. 

And trained men, you will find, are eager 
learners. They are not the kind who are most 
apt to boast of what they know. They realize 
that a fellow’s education is never finished, that 
he can always increase his skill and enlarge 
his knowledge, and with more application can 
make himself a better man in his job. They 
are not like the farmer’s son in Vermont who 
disappeared right in the middle of haying. A 
friend told the father that the boy had been 
seen in town working in a lawyer’s office, but 
he took no notice of it. In about ten days the 
boy appeared one morning at breakfast and 
ate his meal without saying anything. He 
went about his chores, and the father made no 
comment. In the evening, however, the old 
gentleman asked at the supper table, “Well, 
Tom, how did you like the law?” Tom re¬ 
plied, with a twist of disgust on his face, “I 
didn’t like it. The law ain’t what it’s cracked 
up to be. Fin sorry I learned it.” Figura¬ 
tively, that is the amount of time and appli¬ 
cation that some men put into their prepara- 

10 


tion for production work, and then call them¬ 
selves trained. 


During 1916 and 1917 I was in France in 
charge of a munitions plant where we em¬ 
ployed 10,000 women. Those were dark days. 
The men were at the front, and my factory 
workers consisted of professional women, ac¬ 
tresses, grand opera singers, soldiers’ wives, 
soldiers’ daughters, soldiers’ widows. But 
they were vitally interested in the thing they 
were doing—they were a part of the great 
force that was saving France from the invader 
—and the way these unskilled, untrained 
women turned out shells was a revelation. It 
was a revelation of what can be accomplished 
through the worker’s interest in the work. 

When I came home from France, the first 
thing they gave me to do was a job of building 
300 seaplanes for the Navy. By T . , 

this time Uncle Sam had com- rame 
mandeered most of the trained me¬ 
chanics. I managed to get a few 
skilled men as foremen; the other 
jobs were filled with a varied crew—truck 
gardeners, lobster fishermen, toy makers, shirt¬ 
waist workers, milliners. My best man had 
been a butcher. But with my little squad of 
skilled foremen to supervise this unskilled 
labor, we managed to do the job thoroughly, 
and sent the three hundredth plane off the 
launching ways a month ahead of time. 

Such emergencies are a thing of the past 
now. But they taught us some lessons in 

li 


Foremen and 

Untrained 

Workers 



utilizing labor, and showed what can be done 
with trained squad-leaders. My policy in the 
seaplane factory was to get together my group 
of foremen, start a school of instruction, and 
use these foremen in training others. Hun¬ 
dreds of industrial plants today have awak¬ 
ened to the fact that by training they can 
transform their whole factory organization— 
reduce the risk of accidents, key up produc¬ 
tion, make their employees more valuable be¬ 
cause more productive. The program of the 
new era in industry, as I see it, is this: To 
make goods plentiful, and men dear. 

The kind of training that is needed to fit 
men for the requirements of modern industry 
is the training that will give men a broad view 
and an intelligent interest in their work. 
Technical instruction is not enough. Jim 
Jordan was well versed in the tools and ma¬ 
chines used in his work. It was only when 
through the awakening of experience he was 
brought to see his factory as a whole, and to 
study it as a balanced organization of men and 
equipment, that he became the valuable man 
whom the superintendent noted with such 
marked interest. 

Up to a few years ago factories depended 

upon the traditional system of sink-or-swim 

c . , r . training to supply their require- 
Smk-or-Swim m(entg< Nobod can d ^ it 

/ raining now j j j \ 

t j & . produced good men. A man went 

in as raw material, starting as ap¬ 
prentice or water-boy or time-keeper, or in 


12 



some other lowly position, and worked up 
through various positions and through the 
series of factory departments. Such a process 
of course cost time, and was often wasteful 
both to employer and employee. 

Not only is modern industry unable to wait 
for this slow process to turn out its dependable 
shop men, but present conditions make the 
system applicable only in limited cases. The 
units of production are so large and the work 
is so highly specialized, that it is no longer 
practicable for employees (in most factories) 
to graduate from department to department 
and pass through the entire organization. An 
employee, entering a certain department, is 
likely to become a specialist in the particular 
functions of his machine or process without 
acquiring much knowledge of the other de¬ 
partments or of the inter-relations within the 
factory. He may become extremely expert at 
his job, but he rarely gets the large view of 
things. His experience tends to make him a 
technician rather than a co-worker or a leader. 

The only way to get the broader knowledge 
which develops latent abilities and makes good 
team members and shop leaders, is 
to study production—to get ac- The Kind of 

quainted with industry as it has rJ at j in f 
developed, as it is organized and ee e 
carried on in the modern world; to understand 
the personal factors which enter into manage¬ 
ment, and to learn the fundamental principles 

13 


of direction and control as they are applied in 
modern plants. 

These are subjects which cannot easily be 
picked up in the course of ordinary factory 
experience. Details may be gathered here 
and there, a smattering of this or that may be 
acquired along with mastery in a particular 
departmental specialty. But systematized all¬ 
round knowledge of production demands sys¬ 
tematized study of the general subject, under 
careful guidance, and with the training closely 
tied up with actual factory work. 

Back in the summer of 1918 I was asked if 
it wouldn’t be practicable to do something for 
the supervisors in industry in the way of train¬ 
ing, such as was already being done on a hand¬ 
some scale for many workers in government 
plants. I came to the conclusion that it would 
not be practicable, nor desirable, to do this 
through the government; that what we ought 
to do in every plant was to gather together the 
executives of that organization—the president, 
and the vice-president and the general man¬ 
ager and the treasurer and the purchasing 
agent and the chief draftsman and all the fore¬ 
men and assistant foremen—to gather them 
into one group, one family as it were, and 
study the subject of human engineering; all 
study it and apply it to their own factory 
problems. 

That was back in the last year of the war, 
and today we have several thousand foremen 
and other executives doing that in this country 

14 



Course in 

Production 

Methods 


—meeting together in factory groups once in 
two weeks, studying the principles which un¬ 
derlie successful industrial organ- A r . 

.• i , • \ j •. • An Intensive 

ization and operation. And it is 

an intensive course of training, a 
Plattsburg course, of only twelve 
weeks. It is a course in human 
engineering; in modern production methods, 
as informed by science and as tempered by 
humanity and the spirit of comradeship. It is 
the Course in Modern Production Methods, 
conducted by the Business Training Corpora¬ 
tion. 


15 


II 


The Course in Modern 
Production Methods 


T HE Course in Modern Production 
Methods is a proved system of training. 
It is not an experiment. It has already 
succeeded. In hundreds of factories there are 
thousands of men who owe their present high 
rating of ability to the training of this Course. 

The training is itself the result of numerous 
experiences in developing men in factory 
p , groups for production efficiency. 
A rrove Most men want to succeed at their 

. . work. As a rule they are not satis- 
ot raining fr ec [ with being just “good enough,” 

though some need to be awakened to their own 
possibilities and opportunities. But I have 
found that generally men are more than will¬ 
ing to follow schedules of study and apply 
themselves provided they know that the train¬ 
ing is effective—that it really accomplishes 
results. 

The training of the Course in Modern Pro¬ 
duction Methods is effective. It gives men 
the broad view that is so important to full co- 

16 






operation within a department and within a 
plant. It brings the principles of modern 
production to bear upon concrete factory prob¬ 
lems. The training is in fact closely tied up 
with the daily work of the plant, and thus be¬ 
comes immediately useful—something that 
can be put into practise at once. 

All sound training in business includes three 
steps: (1) study; (2) practise, and (3) criti¬ 
cism. Study gives the underlying principles 
and methods. But unless this is followed up 
with actual practise, and the results are sub¬ 
mitted to constructive criticism, the training 
cannot be thorough. How these three steps 
are carried out in the conduct of the Course 
is made plain in the following brief summary 
of the study-unit plan. 

The text material of the Course comprises 
six study-units. The units are delivered to 
you one at a time, at fortnightly ~ , 

intervals. Each study-unit con- 
sists of a text-book and supple- m an 
mentary material. An important feature is a 
problem presenting some typical factory diffi¬ 
culty or situation calling for expert handling. 
Every study-unit includes one of these prob¬ 
lems, the problem in each case calling into 
play the principles and methods taught in the 
text which it accomplishes. By solving the 
problem the student gets valuable practise in 
the handling of factory problems, and at the 
same time tests his knowledge of modern pro¬ 
duction methods. The third step of the train- 

17 


ing is accomplished by sending the written 
problem solution to the offices of the Business 
Training Corporation, where it is carefully 
read, constructively criticized and commented 
upon and returned to you, so that you may 
benefit by this expert review of your work. 

In addition to the individual training, there 
are the company group conferences—meetings 
jj , of the members of a factory or de- 

Ho me ^ u y partmental organization enrolled 
us onference - n t j ie c ourse> These conferences 

or * are held at weekly or bi-weekly 

intervals, at least one conference to each study- 
unit. At these meetings the principles and 
methods set forth in the units are discussed 
with special reference to the requirements of 
your own plant. Frequently, particular prob¬ 
lems that have recently come up within your 
own organization are brought up and dis¬ 
cussed in the light of Modern Production 
Methods. The meetings serve a two-fold pur¬ 
pose: (1) they keep up the progress of the 
Course, and (2) they tie up the study with the 
daily work of the plant. The exchange of 
ideas is helpful and serves not only to develop 
a better understanding of the company’s pol¬ 
icies, but also to promote greater teamplay 
among the organization. 

The training is thus a balanced combination 
of home-study and conference work. The in¬ 
dividual training is provided through a 
sound plan of home study, which enables 
each man enrolled to utilize his spare time 


profitably and assures him that his progress in 
the Course will be just as rapid as his own 
efforts and accomplishments justify. The com¬ 
pany-group conferences, on the other hand, 
supply the important element of discussion, 
bring the impressions and reactions of many 
minds to a focus, and give a wholesome sense 
of cooperation and group spirit to the work. 

The text material of the Course, as stated, 
is contained in a series of six study-units. Each 
study-unit is a distinct division of the Course, 
and the complete series of six gives a complete 
summary of the essentials of modern factory 
methods. One unit leads naturally into the next 
one, and those that follow are built upon what 
has gone before. Thus there is constant review 
of the principles and methods taught, and 
continual weaving and interweaving of what 
you know with what you are learning. 

The titles of the six study-units indicate in 
general the subject-matter, and are as follows: 

I. Teamwork 

II. Handling Men 

III. Organization 

IV. Machinery and Materials 

V. Production Records 

VI. Management 

Unit I shows that the basic principle in mod¬ 
ern industry is the idea of teamwork. It gives 
a graphic picture of the slow de- Teamwork 
velopment of this idea, from the 
crude organization of primitive industry to the 
highly specialized factory of today. How this 

19 


teamwork is organized under modern forms of 
ownership is briefly indicated, and then the 
unit proceeds to consider what the factory 
team requires of its individual members. The 
traits of the good production man are enu¬ 
merated and explained, following which a 
series of tests are given by which you can meas¬ 
ure your own ability in each of the traits. Such 
a self-analysis provides a definite basis for self¬ 
training. It shows where you are strong and 
where you are weak, where you can place the 
most dependence, and where you need greater 
development. At the same time, this unit 
strikes the keynote of human interest and ap¬ 
preciation of the personal factor in manage¬ 
ment, which continues throughout the Course. 

Unit II follows up this striking introduc¬ 
tion of the idea of teamwork with an exam- 
jj ination into the methods of effi- 

Men cient man-management, from the 

viewpoint especially of the factory 
foreman. It looks upon the foreman as the key 
man in modern production, and man-manage¬ 
ment as the most important problem. The va¬ 
rious forms of appeal are discussed, the prob¬ 
lems and difficulties likely to arise are indi¬ 
cated, and the whole treatment is enlivened by 
numerous incidents from the experience of vet¬ 
eran shop men. 

Unit III deals with Organization, but the 
subject is approached and handled differently 
from the methods used in most treatments 
of industrial organization. Organization is 
considered first of all from the standpoint 

20 


of the purpose of the business, and the 
various functions which contribute to the suc¬ 
cess of this purpose are named, n 
analyzed, and defined. The neces- 
sary requirements to good organi- tlon 
zation are made plain. The unit discusses in 
turn (1) how the factory team is built up, (2) 
how the team is held together, and (3) how 
the team is made and kept a harmonious work¬ 
ing whole. 

The fourth unit is devoted to “Machinery 
and Materials.” As Unit III deals particu¬ 
larly with the organization of the 7 . , 

human factor in industry, Unit IV ¥. achme [ ry and 
concentrates on the organization a eria s 
of the equipment and material factors. It dis¬ 
cusses selection of factory site, types of plant 
construction and layout, selection and care of 
machinery and tools, and the purchasing, stor- 
ing, and handling of material. A wide range 
of information is covered in this unit in an ex¬ 
ceedingly compact space. 

“Production Records” is the subject of Unit 
V. Modern factory systems of keeping tab on 
equipment, purchases, stores, labor, p , 
the handling of work through the p ro uc lon 
plant, and indirect expenses of ecor 5 
production are set forth fully. Numerous illus¬ 
trations are cited from the practise of well- 
known factories. The basic principles of cost 
accounting are made clear, and the prevailing 
methods of keeping account of production 
costs are indicated. 

Unit VI, the final study-unit of the Course, 
is intended to bring to a focus the preceding 


merit 


units in its discussion of the nature and method 
of modern management. It shows how all 
. A these factors of men, machinery, 

Manage - an d materials are organized and 

controlled through the plant man¬ 
agement. The place of system is made clear. 
Types of management are discussed, and illus¬ 
trated by means of graphic charts. The appli¬ 
cation of the principles is illustrated in the 
case of a large industry, whose organization 
and functions are analyzed, and then discussed 
in detail, the lines of authority and responsi¬ 
bility being indicated. 

The teaching is authoritative. In the prep¬ 
aration of the unit material, the director has 
had the assistance of a number of 
well-known men in the industrial 
field. Credit especially is due 
John H. Van Deventer, editor of 
Machinist; J. William 
Schulze, formerly controller for Robert H. 
Ingersoll & Brother, later of the organizing 
staff of the U. S. Shipping Board; A. C. 
Jewett, superintendent of engineering for 
the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, 
formerly professor of mechanical engineering 
at the University of Maine; John A. Hart- 
nedy, industrial engineer, formerly on the effi¬ 
ciency staff of the City of New York; and 
Fred Colvin, of the McGraw-Hill engineer¬ 
ing publications. These are all men of wide 
and successful industrial experience. 

From the brief outline it will be seen that 
the Course embraces essential factors in pro- 

22 


An 

Authoritative 
Course 

the American 


i c ( 


duction, and is so organized as to introduce 
these factors in the order most effective for 
training. At the end of the Course you have 
a grasp of modern production, and at the same 
time you have definite measurements of your 
own rating in the qualities necessary to com¬ 
plete success. Knowledge gained in this way 
is a continuing growth. Just as one unit is 
built upon what has preceded it, so experi¬ 
ence will build upon the knowledge gained 
in the Course, and the production man will 
find himself developing into a good produc¬ 
tion man, and the good production man into 
a better one. 


23 


Ill 


Following the Course 


T HE method of conducting the Course is 
an important element in its success, and 
the full value of the training can be had 
only by your complete cooperation. It is not 
enough that you read the texts. It is not even 
enough that when convenient you try your 
hand at solving the problems. Your coopera¬ 
tion means following the Course in accordance 
with the plan laid out, and now to be explained 
here. This plan is the result of wide experi¬ 
ence in training men in factory groups in 
many parts of the country, and has justified 
itself over and over again by its results. 

The six study-units are designed to be taken 
up one at a time. Unit I is delivered to the 
student at the beginning of the 
training, usually at the first meet¬ 
ing of his group, and the others are 
delivered at semi-monthly intervals during 
the three-month period of the Course. 

With the text-book of each study-unit there 
is wrapped an envelope containing the follow¬ 
ing inclosures: an introductory letter from 
the Director, a problem to be solved by the 
student, and a question-service card. At the 

24 


One Unit at 
a Time 





first meeting of the group each student is pro¬ 
vided with a pad containing specially printed 
paper to be used in submitting solutions to the 
problems. It is earnestly requested that all 
problem solutions sent to the Business Train¬ 
ing Corporation be on these standard sheets. 

As the Course covers a period of three 
months, the average time devoted to each unit 
is about two weeks. At the end of every sec¬ 
ond week you are supposed to have completed 
all your work on one unit; to have read the 
text thoroughly and mastered its contents; to 
have submitted your questions or requests on 
the question service card or by any other con¬ 
venient form; to have solved the problem and 
turned it in for criticism by the staff of the 
Business Training Corporation; and to have 
attended and participated in your group-con¬ 
ference. By systematic application the Course 
can be made an intensely interesting means of 
employing your spare time and thereby devel¬ 
oping your business ability in a very real and 
profitable way. 

On receiving the first unit the temptation 

is to pick up the textbook and look it through. 

Before vielding to this, however, „ i c± j 
. - P i-’, ’ How to Study 

open the envelope which accom- ^ h IJ t 

panies the text and look at its con- ac m 
tents. You will find there the INTRODUC¬ 
TORY LETTER from the Director of the 
Course—a personal message which is intended 
to introduce you to the new unit and which 
constitutes a foreword to its contents. Read 
this first. After you have read the letter you 



will approach the text with a mind prepared 
for its subject-matter, and will find yourself 
already in tune with its spirit and purpose. 

Now you are ready to read the TEXT¬ 
BOOK (without attempting at this time to 
study it thoroughly). Your reading of the 
text will prove, we believe, a real pleasure; 
for you will find that it not only contains ideas 
of direct value to you in your work, but that 
they are so presented that they hold your inter¬ 
est from the first page to the last. Usually a 
man will read the unit through at one sitting, 
and this is a good plan, for it enables you to 
see the subject under discussion as a whole. 

After completing this first reading of the 
text you will probably find questions occur¬ 
ring to you as to the application of certain of 
its ideas to your own work. Here is where 
the QUESTION SERVICE CARD comes in. If you 
will write on this card whatever questions 
occur to you that are relevant to the teaching 
of the unit, and will mail the card to the Busi¬ 
ness Training Corporation, it will bring you a 
prompt answer from the staff in Modern Pro¬ 
duction Methods. 

Next take up the PROBLEM. This also is 
contained in the supplementary envelope. 
You will find that it is a description of some 
factory problem—some typical situation, com¬ 
plication, or opportunity such as might de¬ 
velop in any plant. Your task here is to write 
out on the problem-solution sheets furnished 
a detailed statement of how you would handle 
this factory problem. The solution you write 

26 


will be carefully and constructively reviewed 
by the staff in Modern Production Methods 
and returned to you promptly. 

One word of warning is in place here. Don’t 
hash over this solution. Think the problem 
through. Possibly jot down points you want 
to make. Then write your solution just as you 
might a report to the president or general 
manager. 

Keep in mind always that you can get the 
most value out of the Course when you go into 
each detail thoroughly and depend ^ 7 

on your own efforts to get results. ^ F ^ 

L- • r ° Your Own 

Getting suggestions from some one . 

else as to the solution to a problem, ** or s 
for example, accomplishes nothing that is 
helpful to you and is little more than a waste 
of your time. On the other hand, the sub¬ 
scriber who follows the Course systematically 
and sends in his problem solution on schedule 
time and always depends on himself alone to 
do the work is learning Modern Production 
Methods and is getting the utmost value from 
the Course. 

When solutions are received by the staff they 
are criticized and commented upon with a 
view to the needs of the individual subscriber. 
For that reason, the more you tell the service 
staff of yourself, the better they will understand 
your needs and the more concrete will be the 
results for you. 

Of course you will want to make a good rec¬ 
ord in your problem work. In order that you 
may know just how you stand, a grade is given 


27 


to each of the solutions before it is returned 
to you by the service staff. Many factors must 
be taken into consideration before this grade 
is accorded. The thoroughness with which the 
solution is done, the care which is taken with 
it, the way in which the important points are 
emphasized, the clearness with which you tell 
the staff just what your ideas are about solving 
the problem—all of these things are impor¬ 
tant to consider before a grade is finally given 
to a problem solution. This does not mean 
that because a man doesn’t write very well, or 
perhaps has difficulty in putting his ideas 
on paper, he should hesitate about sending in 
his solution. Nor does it mean that necessarily 
a lower grade will be assigned him for that 
reason. Even if he does not clearly understand 
the handling of a problem, a man should nev¬ 
ertheless try his hand at a solution and send 
in the result; for unless he does get in touch 
with the service staff by this means, we will be 
unable to help him. 

Solutions are graded alphabetically. A (95 
to 100%) means that the solution is of very 

rpi n . high excellence; this grade is very 

of Grading rarel Y § iven - 5 (85 to 95%) rep- 

J ® resents a solution which is thor¬ 
oughly handled and shows care in prepara¬ 
tion. All subscribers should aim to get a grade 
of B in their work and to get a grade of A if 
possible. C (75 to 85%) represents a solution 
which is good, but shows some carelessness in 
handling or the omission of some essential part 
of the problem due to an oversight. D (60 to 

28 




75%) indicates a solution which is considered 
below average. ' E (below 60%) is the mark 
for work which is of so poor a grade as to be 
practically unacceptable. 

A grade of C or above shows that the sub¬ 
scriber is doing good work and is accomplish¬ 
ing real results for himself out of the Course. 
When a grade below C is received, the sub¬ 
scriber should make an earnest effort to han¬ 
dle future problems more carefully and should 
ask questions and get help from the service 
staff to carry on the Course. 

Since these problems deal with practical 
shop questions and with the human element in 
industry they cannot be graded with the same 
exactitude as a problem in arithmetic or al¬ 
gebra. But the grade enables each man to see 
how his work in the Course is regarded by a 
competent member of our staff. 

Now that you have gone over the text, have 
tried some of its principles in solving the prob¬ 
lem and have been stimulated to think of your 
own daily work in terms of its teachings, you 
will find redoubled interest in reviewing and, 
this time, mastering the text. The first read¬ 
ing was intended merely to get you acquainted 
with its ideas. Now you are to read more in¬ 
tensively, to study the book chapter by chap¬ 
ter. As you finish a chapter, turn to the quiz 
questions in the back of the book and test your¬ 
self on your mastery of the chapter. Do this 
with each chapter. Concentrate. Be thor¬ 
ough. Don’t pass on to the next idea or the 
next chapter until you have thoroughly mas¬ 
tered the one in hand. 


29 


This program is to be followed for each of 
the six units. In addition there is one more 
step involved in your whole-hearted coopera¬ 
tion with the training. That is your faithful 
attendance upon the group-conferences. These 
meetings are of the utmost importance, not 
only to the company but also to you individu¬ 
ally. The work of the Course as it applies to 
the detailed problems of your own plant is 
brought to a focus at the group conferences. 
The man who misses a conference, or slights it, 
who is inattentive or indifferent to its discus¬ 
sions, is losing much more than the time. He 
is losing the chance to bring his own ideas and 
opinions and ability to the attention of his 
associates and his company. 

And then, too, you will want to go to these 
company conferences primed with questions. 
a 7 There may be some things which 

you did not clearly understand in 
W. es ° s rea di n g the texts; these you want 

to take to the company conference and get 
cleared up. There may be some particular 
production problem which is giving you con¬ 
cern; bring that up at the meetings and get 
the ideas of your fellow-workers on this point. 
Get on your feet and express your ideas and 
encourage others to do so. You want your 
group to be a real “live wire” bunch. And 
that means you have to do your part. If you 
are reticent about expressing yourself at the 
group meetings, write out your questions and 
give them to the group leader, who will see to 
it that they are brought up and answered. 

30 


A 



This makes a really constructive program 
of study and training which, if conscientiously 
carried out, will mean that you will get facts 
and ideas and new methods that will send you 
into your shop with a keener interest in every¬ 
thing that goes on and with an ambition and 
definite purpose that is bound to bring results 
for you. 

Your program in following the Course may 

be summarized, therefore, in the following 

brief outline of the steps to be pur- Your 

sued with each of the six study- i l j j 
rp, . i J Schedule 

units. 1 hey are six in number. 

1. Read the Introductory Letter contained 
in the envelope. 

2. Read the Text through, at one sitting if 
possible. 

3. Use the Question Service Card to ask 
questions suggested in your reading. 

4. Take up the Problem and write the solu¬ 
tion that it calls for. 

5. Study the Text thoroughly, chapter by 
chapter, testing yourself by means of the quiz 
questions. 

6. Attend the Group Conference, and be 
prepared to discuss questions raised in the text 
or in the problem to be considered at that con¬ 
ference. 

From this dicussion, the purpose of the 
Course must be clear to everyone. It is to help 
people in factories to do better work . The 
individual worker is asked to look upon him¬ 
self as a plant producing a certain com¬ 
modity. That commodity is the service which 

31 


he sells his employer. The service is made up 
of his experience, skill, knowledge, loyalty, 
and other personal qualities which enter into 
ability and willingness to work. Just as the 
factory gets ahead by increasing its produc¬ 
tion, so the worker gets ahead by turning out 
more and a better grade of work. 

The purpose of the Course is to help men 
and women in factories to produce more and 
better work, both for their own benefit and for 
that of their employer. Higher individual 
production means higher plant production, 
and higher plant production means lowered 
costs, a more stable industry, better working 
conditions, larger opportunities for advance¬ 
ment, and a high wage scale. The worker who 
is careless, or slow and bungling, or ignorant, 
or lazy, is a drag on the whole establishment. 
He keeps wages down. It is to the interest 
of each individual to have the factory organi¬ 
zation just as perfect a team as possible. 

The Course in Modern Production Meth¬ 
ods has helped numerous factory organizations 
to become smoother-working factory teams. It 
has made men and women more capable work¬ 
ers, more intelligent workers, more valuable 
workers. Thousands of factory foremen, 
shop managers—even superintendents and 
general managers—have followed the Course 
along with their subordinates in various of¬ 
fice, shop, and yard positions, and have found 
the training individually helpful. 

What it has accomplished for others, it will 
do for you. 


32 

















Copyright, 1920, by 
Business Training Corporation 
(Printed in the United States of America) 
All Rights Reserved 
























































